Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified antimicrobial resistance as one of three greatest threats to human health, jeopardising patient safety and public health. Whilst research into and the development of new, effective antibiotics is decreasing, we are all aware of rapidly increasing rates of multiresistant bacteria that cannot be treated with currently available antibiotics.

The problem of antibiotic resistance worldwide, including Australia, is one of the foremost issues that we face in the coming decades. We strongly believe that there is an urgent requirement for a debate within Australia on how to comprehensively address the problems of antimicrobial resistance, with the goal to implement a coordinated national approach.

We realise that the success of such a forum requires a co-operative effort by an interdisciplinary group from the scientific, medical, veterinary, public health and health policy communities. We therefore invite and hope to bring together as participants key stakeholder groups including professional bodies (medical and surgical colleges, special societies and veterinary societies), the universities, state and federal departments of health, national bodies such as the NPS Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare and consumer organisations. We intend to discuss health-care and community-associated drug resistance, infection control strategies, the role of national surveillance, antibiotic stewardship, antibiotic use in food production, and research needs. With a broad representation, we aim to achieve a dialogue for national control strategies and to formulate an agenda for minimising antimicrobial resistance in the future.

Tom Gottlieb	Graeme Nimmo
President, Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID)	President, Australian Society for Antimicrobials (ASA)